SYSTEMS THINKING IN PRODUCT DESIGN
Systems approach to design
A quick take on predicting features through emergent states in chat apps.
I wrote this blog on Linkedin before these features were integrated in Whatsapp. Revisiting those predictions vs emergent states.
If your whatsapp or personal messaging application resembles this, read along.
As we all are talking more about chat, I stumbled on the existing interactive components that exist in our chat apps with some recent personal emergent behaviors.
Well, most of us organize personal data on multiple apps, which is derived from our existing interactions with personal data. In this case, I am exploring personal chat app behaviors.
Observing behaviors.
I and my better half like to share passwords, important reminders, documents, passports, vaccine certificates, and whatnot.This static approach in the personal chat had cluttered the chat content, and often a long scroll would allow me to discover the items, when in need.
WhatsApp supports, a group of 2 people whereas, iMsg doesn't. Why would we create group of 2, just chat on private, right? We created a group and pinned it at the top (each), with a self-imposed discipline to not post any chatty stuff in the group. Named the group by emojis, Bear and a Penguin.
I am sure many people do the same, a feature that auto-emerges through frequent interactions. Through the lens of the systems approach this emergent state highly points to new features in user interfaces. In our case, this state stabilizes the interface utility and allows us to find documents faster than then in notes or documents apps.
Group chat for managing shared resources
Intertwining of features for personal and work chat systems.
The inception of chat features had already begun, in fact, you would see your own name pinned at the top in MS Teams. A self-chat box, why? Well just to dump your to-do list, reminders, calendars, and more.
The question would be if a boundary exists between enterprise apps (productivity-focused) and personal chat (personal interaction focused), would these boundaries intertwine?
Well, prediction and explanation have similar logical structures but, differ in terms of what one knows and what one wants to know, in the context of a system this can only be experienced if emergent states point to successful features later on, and also the system's dynamics answers these nonactual circumstances.
With the advent of chat AI, personal productivity, managing families, assigning tasks to your siblings and even a document repository would all be integrated into chat maybe in personal chat.
Below is a quick interpretation of what might come to personal chats.
Learnings
Anticipatory organization through systems approach is a way to evaluate direction of evolution, though reality can manifest in different ways. It's essential to evaluate boundries of similar systems, this leads to observe user behavior in different contexts.